West Side Story will undoubtedly touch many audiences around the world. The lyrical genius of the recently-deceased Stephen Sondheim through the eyes of director Steven Spielberg is a breathtaking and triumphant classic.

West Side Story is based on the classic 1957 musical and is set in New York City’s Upper West Side. The area is torn by rivalry and racism between the Jets, an Anglo-Polish street gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang. Tensions between the two gangs escalate when a Jet named Tony, played by Ansel Elgort, falls in love with a Shark girl named Maria, played by Rachel Zegler.

No other film explores elements of love, hatred, segregation, inequality, and racism, as effectively as West Side Story. And it does so in the most invigorating and wonderful way through choreography and dance sequences that leave us simply breathless. I was hooked on each and every one of the sequences, and seeing the film in Dolby Digital made the musical experience even more immersive.

The selection of key characters for this film is perfect. Elgort is the serious Tony that West Side Story deserves. He has the mellow attitude, along with the drive and guts to make change. Zegler, in her feature film debut, has the innocence, the captivation, and many breathtaking moments of joy and sadness that will make Maria fans cry.

West Side Story is a must-see film that is most definitely Oscar-worthy. There has not been a more musically exciting film in quite a while, and this one has so many positive emotions. Audiences will laugh, cry, and smile. It will be one that is remembered for a long time. Four stars for West Side Story.

Although Don’t Look Up, the newest film from director Adam McKay, is fiction, it feels very real. McKay has done this before, most notably with The Big Short in 2015. His clever direction and his ability to add spices of humor really come together in Don’t Look Up. It is a dark but lethally funny comedy filled with plenty of adrenaline.

In Don’t Look Up, we are introduced to unknown astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy and Dr. Kate Dibiasky, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who make a harrowing discovery. While studying the earth’s crust and its orbit they realize that a comet is on a collision course with the earth. Though they are brilliant astronomers, they can’t get anyone to take them seriously because neither of them came from an Ivy League school.

Mindy and Dibiasky do eventually get the attention of egotistical United States President Janie Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, but she cares more about publicity than she does about the fate of the world. Her son Jason, played by Jonah Hill, who is her Chief of Staff, is in way over his head.

This marks Hill’s second film with DiCaprio, their first one being Wolf of Wall Street(2013). In that film Hill and DiCaprio were on the same side, but in Don’t Look Upthey are closer to enemies. DiCaprio has almost the same attitude in this film as he had in Wolf, but here he plays a good guy trying to save the world. Hill is fantastic as his mother’s Chief of Staff, and Meryl Streep can of course still pull off a powerful, egotistical woman with aplomb. Three and a half stars for Don’t Look Up.

The Humans, directed by Stephen Karam, is a film adaptation of his one-act play of the same name. It is a dark comedy with lots of family tensions, realism, and irony. The darkness of the film’s cinematography sets the tone for this haunting, and sometimes funny movie.

The Humans is set in Manhattan, in an old duplex with lots of maintenance issues. It centers on the Blake family, which include Erik, played by Richard Jenkins, Erik’s wife Deirdre, played by Jay Houdyshell, their daughter Aimee, played by Amy Schumer, and younger daughter Brigid, played by Beanie Feldstein. There is also Brigid’s boyfriend Richard, played by Steven Yeun, and grandma Momo, played by June Squibb.

The Blake family is together for the Thanksgiving holiday, but as soon as they are all together the resentments start to build, with everyone struggling to get along. The dialogue between the characters in The Humans is often a recipe for disaster, as they struggle to find peace in each other’s company, and the problems with the duplex is the source of much annoyance between the characters. The performances by Richard Jenkins and Steven Yeun, both playing self-centered, melancholy characters, probably stand out the most in the film.

I found myself enthralled at times during The Humans, but it ultimately feels like a watch once film. It is a worth it, though, for those who love play adaptations and twisted family dynamics. Three stars for The Humans.